LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Geometry and Genre in Columella

Photo from archive.org

Columella's discussion of land measurement in Book 5 of the Res rustica does more than explain how to calculate the areas of variously shaped fields. This geometrical excursus allows the… Click to show full abstract

Columella's discussion of land measurement in Book 5 of the Res rustica does more than explain how to calculate the areas of variously shaped fields. This geometrical excursus allows the author to delimit and transgress the boundaries of res rustica by injecting practical handbook mathematics into his otherwise highbrow manual, whose audience comprises both the practical farmer and the leisured litterateur. Columella displays his mastery of all aspects of agriculture while simultaneously elevating the literary status of geometrical calculation, creating a text that is technical yet transcends generic constraints.

Keywords: columella; geometry genre; geometry; philology; genre columella

Journal Title: American Journal of Philology
Year Published: 2017

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.